Wallet guards



R. F. NELSON 3,003,532

WALLET GUARDS Filed July 18, 1960 Oct. 10, 1961 /NVEN'O/l? RAYMOND E NELSON ATTORNEY nited State 3,003,532 WALLET GUARDS Raymond F. Nelson, 961/2 Swanwick Ave.,

Toronto 13, Ontario, Canada Filed July 18, 1960, Ser. No. 43,638 4 Claims. (Cl. 1541-47) My invention relates to improvements in theft or losspreventing devices for pocket-carried articles such as wallets, wherein a wallet may be secured in a pocket of :a garment in Ia manner such that it cannot be removed surreptitiously but can be readily freed by the wearer of the garment whenever desired.

My invention provides an inconspicuous guard device of the character described which is easy to use and economical to manufacture.

According to my invention there is provided a wallet guard comprising a plate which is attached to a wall portion of a pocket by a fastener thereon and provided with a swivel connector made up of two bars, one of which is pivotally mounted on the plate to swing transversely thereof and has pivotal connection with the other bar. Said other 4bar is pivoted to swing between closed and open positions and in its closed position is retained by a keeper and spaced to provide a closed elongated slot. Said other bar provides Ifor the detachable engagement of a pocket book which desirably is supplied with a hook element at its fold portion which has a hook-on relation with said other bar. Preferably the hook element is supplied on a clip which fastens to the wallet and according to the arrangement the wallet is ecured in its pocketed condition against theft and oss.

The guard of my invention occupies but little space in a pocket and can be applied to standard wallets used by men and women.

My invention comprises a novel construction and arrangement of parts of the wallet guard as described in detail in the following specification and more particularly pointed out in the ensuing claims. A selected embodiment of the invention is shown in the accompanying drawing in which:

FIG. 1 depicts a pocket of a garment broken away and showing the wallet gnard secured to a wall portion of the pocket and to a wallet placed in the pocket;

-FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing the plate of the `guard device with the fastener for attaching it to the Wall portion of the pocket and a swingable bar which forms part of the swivel connector;

FIG. 3 depicts la standard wallet supplied with a clip which forms part of the wallet guard land provides an eye by which the wallet is attachable to the swivel connector of the guard device; and

IFIG. 4 is a perspective view of the swivel connector showing the swing bar in an open position in. solid lines and in the closed position in phantom lines.

The guard device is worn inside a pocket of a garment such as the pocket denoted at P in FIG. 1, which may be for example, a hip pocket of a pair of trousers, represented at T. The mouth of the pocket is denoted at M and the guard device is denoted as a whole at G. In applied position the guard device is placed well within the contines of the mouth portion of the pocket and in its preferred arrangement is secured to the inner wall portion of the pocket as is clearly shown in FIG. l. The wallet, indicated at 'W in FIGS. 1 and 3, is of the ordinary kind comprising parts which fold one against the other along a transverse fold section, indicated at F, and usually in such a wallet there is an inner member I which extends longitudinally and is free of attachment at the lfold section F-see FIG. 3.

In carrying out my invention there is provided on 3,003,532 Patented Oct. 10, 196i the wallet an attachment eye denoted at 5 which serves to enable the wallet to be releasably secured to the guard device when the guard device is in applied position within the pocket of the garment. This eye piece is located at the transverse fold section F of the wallet and projects from the longitudinal edge which is adapted to open the longitudinal mouth of the receptacle for bills.

Desirably the eye member 5 is formed on a metal clip, indicated as a whole by the reference nume-ral 6, this clip has return-bent ends 7 which terminate short of each other and the clip is applied by inserting it behind the member I with its ends 7 embracing the inember I and terminating short of each other to provide a gap which enables the clip to be applied to the wallet in the manner described and to be capable of removal therefrom as occasion may require. This will be evident because the inner member I is flexible and can be bent readily to allow the return-bent ends 'i to embrace the same. lIt has been ascertained that this clip does not interfere with the regular use of the wallet but it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the construction and arrangement of the clip since the eye member 5 could be applied to the wallet in various ways.

In the secured position of the wallet, as shown in FIG. l, the eye member S is engaged in an elongated slot S and thus detachably secured to the article-securing member 9 which is a swivel connector.

The swivel connector comprises a first bar 1t) and a second bar 11. Said iirst bar is pivotally connected at 12 to the attachment plate 13 and the attachment is made at an end of this bar, indicated at 14j Bar 1*-1 is pivoted to swing transversely of plate 13 and said plate is attached by a fastener to the lining of the pocket to extend substantially in perpendicular attitude with the pivot 12 located at its lower end, as clearly depicted in FIG. 1.

The distal end of bar 1@ has an ear 15 which upstands and is supplied with an `abutment face 16. At the pivoted end 14 of bar lil there is supplied a transversely disposed hook-shaped keeper 17. Bar 11 is pivoted at 18 to said ear 15 and is swingable to and away from the keeper 17. In the closed position of bar 11 its free end is engaged under the keeper as best shown in dot and dash lines in FIG. 4. The upstanding ear 15 and keeper 17 displace the bar 11 'with respect to bar 10 and thus provide elongated closed slot 8 in the closed position of bar 11. The eye member 5 engages on the bar 11 and when this bar is retained in closed position by the keeper the hook may slide endwise within the contines of slot 8. Bar 11 engages the abutment 16 in its closed position and it is necessary to engage it under the keeper so that it is maintained in closed position under slight tension. Accordingly, bar 11 is maintained in manually releasable engagement with the keeper and it is necessary to open it in order to free the eye member 5 for removal of the wallet.

Desirably the plate 13 is attached to the wall portion of the pocket by a pin 19 at the rear face thereof which has a pointed end Ztl. Said pin is held in closed position by a catch 21. It will be readily understood that the pin fastens to the material of the pocket wall. As has been mentioned earlier the plate 13 is arranged in a generally perpendicular attitude with the pivot 12 of the swivel connector disposed at its lower end. Accordingly, the bar 11 of the swivel connector swings upwardly when opened and thus enables the eye member 5 of the Wallet to be easily threaded thereon whereupon the bar 11 can be readily swung downwardly and secured in its closed position by the keeper 17. The wallet is thus locked in the contines of the pocket of the garment and cannot be freed without detection. Moreover the guard device cannot be surreptitiously removed by cutting away a section of the pocket to which it is attached because of its application to the rear wall portion of the pocket. Therefore it will be manifest that the guard device functions to prevent theft or loss of the wallet.

The invention provides for simplicity in attachment and removal of the wallet and supplies a highly eiiicient and reliable theft or loss preventing device for pocketcarried articles of the kind referred to.

Having disclosed the preferred form of my invention it will be manifest that such changes and variations may `be resorted to as fairly come within the scope of the appended claims.

What I claim is:

l. A wallet guard comprising an elongated plate forming a mount having front and rear sides, a fastening device secured to said plate -at the rear side thereof for attaching it to a wall of a garment pocket in a generally upright direction, pivot means on said front side of said plate at an end thereof, a wallet-attachment member including a first bar and `a second bar, said first bar having at one end an upstanding ear supplied with an abutment face and having at the other end a hook-shaped keeper, said pivot means supporting said first bar at its keeper end to swing erosswise of said plate, said second bar having one of its ends pivoted to said ear and its other end free to swing for engaging said keeper with said bars slightly spaced apart `and delining a closed elongated slot, said second bar being swingable between closed and open positions and engaged by said abutment face in its closed position to maintain it in released engagement with said keeper, and a wallet-carried eye member having its eye part engaged freely in said slot Whereby the wallet is made captive to said wallet attachment member.

2. A wallet guard comprising an elongated plate having front and rear sides, a fastener mounted on said plate at the rear side therefor, said pin disposed lengthwise of said plate and secured thereto such that the pointed end thereof may be engaged by `and disengaged from said catch for enabling said plate to be removably fastened to a wall of a garment pocket, a swivel connector including a first bar and a second bar, said first bar having at one end an upstanding ear supplied with an abutment face and having at the other end a transversely disposed hook-shaped keeper, said second =bar having one of its ends pivoted to said ear and its other end free to swing for engaging said keeper with said bars slightly spaced apart and defining a closed elongated slot, said second bar being swingable between closed and open positions and engaged by said abutment face in its closed position to maintain it in manually releasa'ble engagement with said keeper, said first bar pivotally mounted on said plate at its keeper end, and a wallet-carried eye member having its eye part engaged freely in said slot whereby the wallet is made captive to said swivel connector.

3. The wallet guard of claim 2, said wallet-carried eye member having means by which it is positively applied to the wallet at the intermediate fold section thereof with the eye part disposed at a longitudinal edge of the wallet.

4. The wallet guard of claim 2, said wallet-carried eye member arranged across the intermediate fold section of the wallet and secured thereto by return bend elements.

References Cited in the tile of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 742,087 Valentine Oct. 20, 1903 1,513,784 Roesner Nov. 4, 1924 2,483,795 Werber Oct. 4, 1949 2,941,267 Nelson June 21, 1960 t t l l 

